What year did the University of Notre Dame Stadium open?

The University of Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in South Bend, Indiana. It opened on October 4, 1930. It is the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. It is located on the university's campus with a current capacity of approximately 80,795. It cost over $750,000 (USD) to build and was the design drafted by architect, Knute Rockne.

For a long time, The Fighting Irish played their football games on Cartier Field, located at that time just north of the current stadium location. As the University’s national football reputation expanded, in large part thanks to the coaching of Knute Rockne, the need for a new home stadium for the Irish was voiced by the school and its supportive community.

As a result, Notre Dame Stadium was built in 1930 at the strong direction of Rockne. He was able to coach in it for one season before he was killed in a plane crash in 1931.

Architecturally, Notre Dame Stadium was patterned, on a smaller scale, after the University of Michigan’s mammoth stadium. The original stadium held 59,075 people; it measured a half-mile in circumference, stood 45 feet high. It also featured a glass enclosed press box rising 60 feet above ground level.